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Afghan earthquake kills at least 920; toll expected to rise

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Earthquake survivors unsafe as aftershocks continue, senior Afghan official says

Reuters
June 27, 2022


Afghan people walk through the debris of damaged houses after the recent earthquake in Wor Kali village in the Barmal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 25. — Reuters


Afghan people walk through the debris of damaged houses after the recent earthquake in Wor Kali village in the Barmal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan, June 25. — Reuters


Aftershocks continue to be felt in the area hit by a deadly earthquake in Afghanistan last week and the area remains unsafe for survivors, a senior Afghan official said on Monday, as authorities continued to grapple with the disaster's fallout.

Afghanistan's most destructive earthquake in decades struck a remote southeastern region near Pakistan's border on Wednesday last week, killing at least 1,000 people, injuring 3,000 and destroying 10,000 homes.

Among the dead were 155 children, with nearly 250 children injured and 65 orphaned, the UN humanitarian office (OCHA) said.

"The place is not safe yet," Afghanistan acting Minister of Public Health Qalandar Ibad told a news conference in Kabul, adding that tremors continued to be felt in the area.
Aftershocks on Friday killed five people and injured 11. There are no reports of injuries in the later tremors reported by Ibad.

He said structures partially damaged in the main shock were not liveable and people had to live in tents.

On the other hand, he said the mercury would drop fast in the coming weeks in the mountains and this presented a fresh challenge for authorities.

"People do not have shelters — elders, children. ... We ask the international community to pay attention," he said.

The disaster is a major test for Afghanistan's hardline Taliban rulers, who many foreign governments have shunned because of concerns about human rights since they seized power last year.

In addition, sanctions on Afghan government bodies and banks have cut off most direct assistance for a country that was facing a humanitarian crisis, including famine, even before the 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck.

The United Nations and several other countries, including Pakistan, have sent aid to the affected area.

An Afghan aid agency appealed on Monday for cash for survivors of the earthquake, saying it had no room to store food and had enough tents, and that money for villagers to meet their particular needs would be most useful now.

"People ask for cash in the areas. They say they've received enough aid," the deputy head of the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), Mullah Noordden Turaby, told journalists.

Turaby said the ARCS had no place to store food and they had enough tents for shelter.

He said cash would be more useful to survivors struggling to make ends meet and the ARCS could help distribute money if donors were worried about transparency.

The UN humanitarian office reported progress in its latest bulletin on Sunday, saying that a shortage of tents had been resolved and groups were distributing various aid including food, hygiene kits and cash.

However, it said several logistical problems remained including limited communications as a result of downed mobile phone networks and poor road conditions in some areas.
 
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Pakistani doctors are currently at Khost airport to treat earthquake victims.
Many injured have been shifted to Pakistan. "We have shifted the injured to Peshawar," said one of the quake victims.
Pakistan has opened Ghulam Khan, angora adda and Torkham for the injured.
 
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WASHINGTON: The US will provide nearly $55 million in aid to those impacted by an earthquake last week that struck eastern Afghanistan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

The additional immediate humanitarian assistance will go through the US Agency for International Development, the top diplomat said in a statement and added that the new funding brings total US humanitarian assistance to more than $774 million in the last year.

"This additional disaster relief assistance will reach people affected by the earthquake with critical relief items: shelter materials; pots for cooking; jerry cans to collect and store water; blankets; solar lamps; clothes, and other household items," said Blinken.

"Assistance will be provided for water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies to prevent waterborne disease outbreak in the aftermath of this natural disaster. The funding will also support other high need areas throughout the country," he added.

A deadly overnight magnitude-6.1 earthquake has killed 1,150 people since last Tuesday, while more than 1,600 others wounded in the country’s east.

About 1,800 houses have collapsed.
 

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